While candy and sugar get all the blame, cavities are caused primarily by bacteria that cling to teeth and feast on particles of food from your last meal.

Your last meal. Did you hear that? Not candy, not at all. It’s food, just plain old food, that those cavity-causing bacteria crave.

And there’s more. Those bacteria? Turns out not everybody has them in their mouths. So some people eat only approved virtuous vittles and end up with teeth like swiss cheese, and others suck lollies all day long and pose as tooth models on the weekend. No, life is not fair.

It gets worse. Those cavity bacteria are contagious. Kiss the wrong frog, and you may soon be enjoying the dulcet tones of the dental drill.

Moms, of course, get the short end of the stick either way. When kids cavities are believed to be evidence of a candy habit, mom gets the blame for allowing her darlings to taste of the forbidden not-fruit. And when we realize it’s all because of bad bacteria?

Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to [the bacteria], and studies have shown that most pick it up from their caregivers–for example, when a mother tastes a child’s food to make sure it’s not too hot…

Hmm, I wonder if such a treatment might risk breeding a super-germ that would be unstoppable (along the lines of antibiotic resistant strains of TB and staph). But when I look at my mercury-riddled mouth, I sure wish that treatment had been around when I was a kid!

Music to my ears, this! The Sugar Baby came back from the dentist yesterday with six (SIX!) cavities that need to be filled. Oh, the guilt! I now feel slightly better knowing it’s not necessarily all the fun things I let him eat.

From what I’ve learned about candy, it’s not the amount of candy you eat as much as the type that can contribute to cavities. Chewy candy that gets stuck in tooth crevices can feed cavity-causing bacteria and contribute to cavities, while candy like chocolate that does not stick to teeth does not contribute nearly as much to the problem. (Raisins and other sticky dried fruits that get stuck in teeth have the same effect as sticky candy.) I also have been told by a dentistry professor that chocolate inhibits cavities, but since sugar promotes cavities, and we don’t usually eat chocolate without sugar, a Hershey’s bar can still contribute to cavity activity.

The other thing I learned is that if you eat candy frequently, snacking on it, your mouth stays more acidic, contributing to cavities. However, if you eat a few pieces at one time, brush your teeth, and stay away from the candy afterwards, the candy is less likely to contribute to cavity formation.

Loralee is correct regarding the amount of time that you feed the cavity causing bacteria easily available carbohydrates–sugars and other foods. While it is unfair to ‘blame’ mothers when a child has lots of dental decay, a direct line can be drawn between the bacterial milieu of a child’s mouth and their mother’s. Research has shown this to be true, even when the mother is not the primary caregiver. It is probably better to avoid words like ‘blame’ and ‘fault’, and just recognize that some families are at higher risk. I can promise you that the researchers have tried for a long time to figure out a vaccination against cavities, but the principal bacteria is not called s. mutans for nothing–it rapidly adapts, foiling attempts to make a single, simple solution to this problem.
I love your website and the articles you produce. Have you considered a piece on Japanese candy?

I did not have cavities until my 30s. And I LOVE candy. Those cavities came after my pregnancy though and so I am hoping my son hasn’t picked up any bacteria from me. We have yet to take him to the dentist but I’ve found some good info and tips on this Mom’s Guide to Caring for Little Teeth. (If link doesn’t work, copy & paste: http://www.1dental.com/moms-guide/). It’s got info for infancy through the teen years.

(C) Samira Kawash

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